weeks ago, the New Orleans Saints opened this much-anticipated season by losing at home, 48-40, to division rival Tampa Bay.

The Saints were, in a word, awful. They made Ryan Fitzpatrick look like Joe Montana. They couldn’t get to him, couldn’t cover Bucs receivers, couldn’t tackle, and looked more a pretender than contender.

“We got a wake-up call,” said defensive end Cam Jordan.

In succession, the Saints have defeated Cleveland 21-18, Atlanta 43-37, the New York Giants 33-18, and Washington 43-19. They have improved with each succeeding game.

They are where they want to be now, in first place, all alone, with a 4-1 record, a game ahead of the Carolina Panthers. While the Saints enjoyed an open date this past weekend, Carolina was losing at Washington. That’s right. The same Redskins the Saints routed the week before helped put New Orleans in first place

What’s the biggest factor in the Saints making a deep playoff run? The secondary has to hold up. Although they’ve improved a bit in recent weeks and made a midseason trade for cornerback Eli Apple, the Saints still rank among the NFL’s bottom four pass defenses in several categories — including big plays allowed. No. 1 cornerback Marshon Lattimore is an asset, but quarterbacks have had too much success throwing away from him and picking on the No. 2 and 3 corners — especially since veteran Patrick Robinson went on injured reserve in late September.

MVP: Not only is Brees the answer here, but he has a great chance to finally win the first NFL regular-season MVP award of his 18-year career if he can keep this up and hold off Kansas City’s wunderkind quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.

among others. Brees, who turns 40 in January, has the highest passer rating of his career (120.6) with 292 yards per game, 18 touchdown passes, just one interception and a ridiculous completion percentage of 76.3. Oh, and he became the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards in Week 5. Kamara and Thomas could make compelling cases, too, and both of them were huge contributors in the Week 9 win against the Rams (Kamara had his third three-TD game of the season, while Thomas had a franchise-record 211 yards and an unforgettable cellphone celebration). But Brees had a monster game himself, with four TD passes — and sometimes Hall of Fame quarterbacks get extra credit.

Biggest surprise: The Saints have turned third-string quarterback Taysom Hill into a major part of their offense. Hill has played 17 offensive snaps per game over the past five games as a read-option QB/RB/TE/WR — in addition to his duties as a kickoff returner and special-teams coverage specialist. He has completed a 44-yard pass, run for 133 yards and a touchdown, caught two passes for a total of 1 yard and successfully converted two fake punts (one throwing, one running). The physical and athletic 6-foot-2, 221-pounder has been a dream for innovative coach Sean Payton. Brees joked that Hill is “Sean’s new toy.”